2019 Ontario wild turkey season

Folks here have enjoyed my sharing of my Ontario hunting adventures - here's the 2019 spring wild turkey version.

My grandfather (whose hunting stories ignited my own hunting passion as a young child) passed away in March. Years ago he had given me his old hunting knife and I thought an appropriate tribute would be to carry it on all my hunts this year, beginning with spring wild turkey.

The initial few weeks of the season were tough with cold, wet weather really shutting down the birds. Fortunes began to swing on May 18th. We were in position by 4:30 AM within 75 meters of a roosted flock. It was clear and cool – the birds began rocking the limb just before dawn. Despite it being a clear day, the birds stayed on the roost quite late, not flying down till 5:20 AM. For about 20 minutes the birds milled around in their usual landing area just to the left of their roost. My hunting partner was calling infrequently (and we did have a jake/hen decoy spread) and the lead hens began to move in our direction. Soon I had multiple hens within mere meters of me. The longbeards had followed suit and had stopped around 30 meters to my left. I was screened by a cedar branch and could not reposition with the hens literally meters way. I stayed patient and eventually the hens wheeled away and began moving toward the middle of the field. The two longbeards followed and when the first bird (the smaller of the two) entered my shooting lane I fired. The bird folded immediately. We waited another 30 minutes to see if the remaining longbeard would approach the setup for my hunting partner, but the birds were moving off toward the neighbouring field. The longbeard weighed 21.75 lbs, had an 8 inch beard, and 0.75 inch spurs. Coolest part of the hunt was the fact it was the first "real" hunt my 8 year old nephew had been on and he loved every minute.

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My second tag was still in my pocket as the season wound down so on the final day of the season (May 31) I went into "Delta Force" mode. This is when I go solo, very early, and extremely stealthy in an effort to be as tight to the roost as possible. I was in position around 4:25 AM and saw a coyote in the pre-dawn gloom. I had not roosted birds and thus was relieved to hear the dominant longbeard begin to sound off. Typical of late season hunting he did not gobble often. Around 5:10 AM I heard him gobble from the ground in the woods – unusual as they typically fly directly into the field. I turned to begin getting my calls ready to attempt to call the bird when I glanced over my shoulder toward the field and simultaneously heard alarm putting. Standing in the field directly in front of me were two longbeards, who had clearly just flown down silently. The birds were turning to leave so I quickly swung on the nearest bird and dropped him at 39 meters. I hustled out and put an insurance shot into him just to ensure a clean kill. He was 19.5 lbs, 8 inch beard, and one 0.75 inch spur.

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A great season and time to look to the fall big game seasons - fingers crossed for my Permit to Accompany for BC mountain goat ...

Hell yeah nice bird, congrats...

Very nice birds, Im sure it felt good to have that knife with ya. My mother just bought 65 acres of forested farmland an hour north of TO, apparently theres a ton of turkeys there so high hopes for the future.

thanks for the story... taking us along on your hunt ....

I used to have the exact same knife 35 years ago it was a gift from my dad but I lost it due to the crappy sheath it came in...I didn't think to change it to a better one at the time...I hope you have a tighter reign on yours....

cheers.....

ps how do you generally cook em?....roasted or broken down into smaller bits? perhaps jerky or smoked?

I usually slow cook mine after breaking down the bird into breasts, etc. I often add bacon too. Lots of great recipes out there, just a matter of not drying out the bird as the meat is very lean.